* Modify [[tcpflow]]'s iptree.h implementation so that it only stores discriminating bit prefixes in the tree, similar to D. J. Bernstein's [http://cr.yp.to/critbit.html Crit-bit] trees.

* Modify [[tcpflow]]'s iptree.h implementation so that it only stores discriminating bit prefixes in the tree, similar to D. J. Bernstein's [http://cr.yp.to/critbit.html Crit-bit] trees.

* Determine why [[tcpflow]]'s iptree.h implementation's ''prune'' works differently when caching is enabled then when it is disabled

* Determine why [[tcpflow]]'s iptree.h implementation's ''prune'' works differently when caching is enabled then when it is disabled

−

−

=== Non-programming ===

−

* Defense asks you: "When did you update your antivirus program during the forensic examination?", what will you reply: date, or date/hour, or date/hour/minute? How many virus signatures can be added and then excluded as false positives in 24 hours? Does mirroring of signature update servers make date/hour, date/hour/minute answers useless?

==Medium-Sized Non-Programming Projects==

==Medium-Sized Non-Programming Projects==

===Digital Forensics Education===

===Digital Forensics Education===

* Survey existing DFE programs and DF practitioners regarding which tools they use. Report if the tools being taught are the same as the tools that are being used.

* Survey existing DFE programs and DF practitioners regarding which tools they use. Report if the tools being taught are the same as the tools that are being used.

+

===Improving quality of forensic examination reports===

+

* Defense asks you: "When did you update your antivirus program during the forensic examination?", what will you reply: date, or date/hour, or date/hour/minute? How many virus signatures can be added and then excluded as false positives in 24 hours? Does mirroring of signature update servers make date/hour, date/hour/minute answers useless?

+

==Medium-Sized Development Projects==

==Medium-Sized Development Projects==

===Forensic File Viewer ===

===Forensic File Viewer ===

Revision as of 21:45, 5 June 2013

Interested in doing research in computer forensics? Looking for a master's topic, or just some ideas for a research paper? Here is our list. Please feel free to add your own ideas.

Many of these would make a nice master's project.

Programming/Engineering Projects

Small-Sized Projects

Sleuthkit

Rewrite SleuthKit sorter in C++ to make it faster and more flexible.

tcpflow

Modify tcpflow's iptree.h implementation so that it only stores discriminating bit prefixes in the tree, similar to D. J. Bernstein's Crit-bit trees.

Determine why tcpflow's iptree.h implementation's prune works differently when caching is enabled then when it is disabled

Medium-Sized Non-Programming Projects

Digital Forensics Education

Survey existing DFE programs and DF practitioners regarding which tools they use. Report if the tools being taught are the same as the tools that are being used.

Improving quality of forensic examination reports

Defense asks you: "When did you update your antivirus program during the forensic examination?", what will you reply: date, or date/hour, or date/hour/minute? How many virus signatures can be added and then excluded as false positives in 24 hours? Does mirroring of signature update servers make date/hour, date/hour/minute answers useless?

Medium-Sized Development Projects

Forensic File Viewer

Create a program that visualizes the contents of a file, sort of like hexedit, but with other features:

Data Sniffing

Create a method to detect NTFS-compressed cluster blocks on a disk (RAW data stream). A method could be to write a generic signature to detect the beginning of NTFS-compressed file segments on a disk. This method is useful in carving and scanning for textual strings.

SleuthKit Modifications

Write a FUSE-based mounter for SleuthKit, so that disk images can be forensically mounted using TSK.

Modify SleuthKit's API so that the physical location on disk of compressed files can be learned.

Anti-Frensics Detection

A pluggable rule-based system that can detect the residual data or other remnants of running a variety of anti-forensics software

Carvers

Develop a new carver with a plug-in architecture and support for fragment reassembly carving. Take a look at:

Timeline analysis

Mapping differences and similarities in multiple versions of a system, e.g. those created by Windows Shadow Volumes but not limited to

Write a new timeline viewer that supports Logfile fusion (with offsets) and provides the ability to view the logfile in the frequency domain.

Enhancements for Guidance Software's Encase

Develop an EnScript that allows you to script EnCase from Python. (You can do this because EnScripts can run arbitrary DLLs. The EnScript calls the DLL. Each "return" from the DLL is a specific EnCase command to execute. The EnScript then re-enters the DLL.)